MARYLAND GEOLOGICAL SURVEY                         427

county could be easily erected in accordance with the present law. Tal-
bot, Caroline, and Wicomico, the counties contiguous to Dorchester are
all less than 400 square miles in extent and could therefore yield noth-
ing for a new county.

From these facts it would appear that if occasion demands additional
counties—a somewhat remote possibility—it would be necessary to amend
the Constitution as it now exists.

Election Districts.

Each of the counties is divided into a series of election districts
which in turn may be further subdivided into election precincts for the
convenience of the voters. Prior to 1800 the entire population of the
State was scarcely more than a quarter of a million and the voting popu-
lation was much smaller. Moreover, the government of the State was
such that voters had fewer questions presented to them than at present.
There was apparently inconvenience for many voters in the exercise of
their suffrage but the county was regarded a sufficiently small unit for
electoral purposes. In 1798 a law⁴ was passed dividing the nineteen
counties as they existed into election districts. Before this law could
become effective it was necessary to pass an act of confirmation⁵ and
subsequently commissions ⁶ to subdivide the various counties were author-
ized. The counties and Baltimore City were divided as follows:

			1906.
	1798. Election districts.	Election disttricts		Precincts
Allegany .............	6	28		42
Anne Arundel ........	5	7		16
Baltimore City* ......	8	24		317
Baltimore County ....	7	15		49
Calvert ...............	3	3		4
Caroline.............	3	8		9
Carroll ...............	7	13		21
Cecil .................	4	9		12
Charles ...............	4	9		9
Dorchester ...........	3	17		22
Frederick ............	7	26		38

⁴ Acts of 1798, Ch. 115.         ⁵ Acts of 1799, Ch. 48.         ⁶ Acts of 1799, Ch. 50.

⁷ Not created until 1836, included in Frederick and Baltimore counties.
* Separated from Baltimore county by Convention of 1850.